Independent squatters and homeless group

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Thursday, 12 November 2015

Devon House IPO Fail

Devon House is a large building in a residential area of Bristol owned by the Department of Communities and Local Government (DCLG). The building's been squatted and several attempts to evict the squatters have failed as the DCLG can't get it's paperwork straight.

Devon House is on the corner of Devon Road and Whitehall Road in Easton, Bristol. It was squatted back in about 2013 and is thought to have been empty for seven years. It used to be a probation office.

It was squatted again around about the 26th October this year. The extensive steel sheets, alarms and security company didn't deter the squatters.

The DCLG applied for an Interim Possession Order (IPO). This is an expensive form of possession order that can go quickly through the courts, taking just a few days rather than two to three weeks for a normal Possession Order. Quite why the Government wants squatters out so fast from a building they're only going to leave empty is not known.

The Court granted the DCLG an IPO at 3.30pm on Friday, 6th November. An IPO must be served on the occupants of a building within 48 hours of being issued. The DCLG tried to deliver it at 7.30am on Monday, 9th November - 16 hours too late.

The DCLG have made at least two more attempts to obtain and serve a valid IPO on the building, so far without managing to get it right. The most recent paperwork has the claimant's name wrong.

The squatters remain in occupation and are determined to resist any attempt at an eviction without a valid court order.

Banners on the side of the building:

About twenty people are occupying the building although they're a bit camera shy:

The building was finally evicted using a full Possession Order and High Court bailiffs. The building was stormed by about twenty bailiffs at 3am in the morning and there was little the occupiers could do about it.